Generalizable, replicated evidence on social and psychological effects of widowhood will be obtained by the secondary analysis of two available panel surveys, one conducted in the late-1950s and the other in the mid-1970s by the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, but not previously exploited for this scientific purpose. In both panels national samples of the non-institutionalized American adult population were interviewed three times over a four-year interval. Thus representative samples who had experienced various patterns of widowhood (become widowed during the four years, become re-married, remained widowed throughout) in two historical periods and a control group who had remained married will be located and the shifts in conduct, beliefs, and other characteristics established from the repeated measurements of such dependent variables. Various other social characteristics, (sex, race, age, etc.) also measured in the surveys will be taken into account to refine the analysis and interpretation of the findings.